Once and Future
by Pyro
Summary: The last elf departed from Middle Earth over 8,000 years ago. Now they are back, but things aren't always as they seem. This story is being rewritten. It has a good plot line, but I want to rework some stuff.
1. Once Upon a Time

Title: Once and Future

Author: Pyro

Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings  is copywrit to J.R.R. Tolkien and family. I am just playing with the characters and concepts.

Author's Notes: _writing_, **thoughts**, mental speech

Prologue

_Once upon a time, that's how all faerie tales start, isn't it? Well, it's said that all myths have their root in reality, and that even a lie can hold truth. Mankind has been around for a long time. No one is quite sure how long exactly, and even generalities are open to debate. Stories have been told for eons, and some may have always been fantasy, while others were pure truth. It doesn't really matter, because with every telling, the story changed. Sort of like that whispering game you play as a child, where one person whispers something in another's ear, and then that person whispers what they were told and adds to it into someone else's ear, and so on, until the last person speaks out loud and says something completely different from the original version. _

I've already said that myths are rooted in fact. Elves, dwarves, trolls, they all had to come from somewhere, right? And it can't have been an isolated concept, because there are tales from all over that feature them, or creatures like them. So here is a bit of the tale as it was told to me, from someone who was if not exactly there, than in the general vicinity thereof, or something like that.

Over eight thousand years ago, the last elf departed this middael earth, that being the old name for plain old earth. See, it was believed there were three planes of earth, the heavens, earth, and the underworld. So, humans lived on the middle earth, hence the name. But I digress. The last elf departed, and a veil decended behind him, forever closing the faerie folk off from the mortals. This is the part in all the stories about the faeries living behind a veil or underhill or some such thing. 

So there were no more elves. There were still some other faerie folk. Leprechauns, dwarves, trolls, that kind of faeries and magical creatures. But they aren't around anymore, either. No one knows why. Mankind took over the earth, and forgot that the old creatures and stories ever really existed. Well, after all, we are primarily creatures of logic. If there isn't any proof, it can't be, right? 

So, for over eight thousand years, the veil stood. And then, one day, it fell. Oh not all at once. But the elves were sent back, a few at a time. See, a "GREAT EVIL" was rising. One that everyone thought had been defeated. Kind of a naieve thought, in my humble opinion. I guess elves don't see things as we do. There is good and there is evil and never the twain shall meet. But even the most vile and evil person can do something good, and likewise, the kindest, most good person is capable of horrible deeds. And mankind is stubborn. Just when you think we are going to give up, or a tragedy strikes, we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and do amazing things. We will keep going simply to spite someone or something. And we never make the mistake of believing that what has been destroyed cannot or will not rise again. Oh, we may not acknowledge it, but it's been proven too many times that if we don't learn from our past we will be forever doomed to repeat it. 

Right, right. Veil, elves. Get to the point. See this "GREAT EVIL" whatever it was had to bee stopped. Apparently, the best people to stop it were those who had done so before. Nevermind that they were all dead. It wasn't the physical body that mattered anyway, it was the soul, and that is eternal. So, the elves came looking for this group of souls. They had some preconcieved notions about things, and someone who knew the "lay of the land" as it were. So here they were, ready to save the world, find the heros, and all live happily ever after. Boy were they in for a shock.

A/N: Well, I'm back, sort of. This is my first LOTR fic, so do be gentle. I am currently in a massive state of writer's block on everything else, and am in the process of trying to graduate, so updates may be sporadic. Enjoy!


	2. Hello, My Name Is

A/N: For all disclaimers and other stuff, see Prologue.

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So, elves were once again walking the earth. See, remember I told you that they were in for a few surprises? Well, a few may not quite cover it. But I haven't introduced myself, have I? Hello, my name is Erin Walker, and this is my story. I'm going to have to do this in a rather round about way, and since this story involves more people than just me, it may take a while. Let's start with the fact that people have spread out all over the place, and those once great places are now non-existent. 

I grew up in Texas, with my cousins and best friends always around. My Mother was from Louisiana. She was raised by a woman whom I call Granmere, but is not blood related. She adopted Momma, and some folks say she's a Voodoo priestess. While I don't necessarily hold to that, she is a seer, and more than once I've gotten strange phone calls from her. Dad was a cop, killed by a kid with enough drugs runnign through his system to take down a small elephant. I was ten, and Momma was never quite right after that. I spent most of my time with my cousins Eric and Ellie Errol. They raised horses, and taught my other cousins, B.J. and Finn Steward and I how to ride. 

Beej and Finn's father is Dan Thorn, the local polictician. He's always been a rat bastard, and they took their mother's maiden name when they left his house. She had died young of breast cancer. By the time the doctors caught it, it was stage four, and nothing could be done. 

From preschool, we have known the other members of our little posse. Ariel Brightman has been my best friend and a sister since we were three and smooshed each others faces in the sand of the sandbox. Garrett Delvers hauled us up by our pigtails and taught us how to build sand forts. Only a few years younger than us, the manic foursome of Pip Tucker, Marty Brandywine, Frank Biggs, and Sam Gower were added to the mix. 

I graduated high school early, at sixteen, and Momma died that February, leaving me the house where I still live. It's a large two story, a family inheritance, and bigger than I need, so everyone gradually moved in. We lived in relative peace and harmony, and by the time the elves showed up, Pip was a highschool senior, and the rest of us were in college, and all working at various jobs.Our lives weren't perfect, but they were normal, right up until that knock on the door.

A/N: Argh. Well the backstory was an evil necessity. The fun stuff starts next chapter.

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End file.
